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It’s starting to look respectable…a little after I had despaired the garden. Lots of hot weather and rain helped.

Garden looks pretty respectable now, although I think polyculture is not for me. It’s too chaotic in a world of weeds and pests. But it kind of looks cool to see forests of green all tangled up, with flowers in there.

Starting again with herbs on the deck, which made a good show…lovage, lemon verbena, citronella, and a dead marigold that wanted to be potted up.

Rosemary made a great comeback.

Now to the cold frames next to the deck…this one cleared of everything but two rogue tomato plants and some chard. The space between will get refreshed and fed and sowed with carrots and beets as soon as the moon is in an earth sign.

Cold frame 2 from the side, a forest of tomatoes…

Cold frame 2 from the east end, peppers in pots and tomatoes…

Tomatoes in containers by raised beds, south side. There’s a LOT of fruit on all my tomatoes, and so far they’ve all had blossom end rot. I’ve fed regularly with Tomato Tone and Calcium suppliment:

Tomato containers between beds, which I mulched heavily when we mulched the whole property…cut down on weeds and bugs INSTANTLY.

Now for the garden, cole crops row. My broccoli and brussels sprouts will probably be tough and bitter from the heat. My beets are tiny and have not grown at all. Potato tops dying off, signaling they are near harvest. Why the bird waterer? I gotta keep my grasshopper mercenaries hydrated! Since I’ve put the Ladies in the garden in the mornings, no “hoppers”!:

Friendly fire, I call it. The chickens stomped on this nasturtium, but the poor thing was chomped to death by grasshoppers anyway…

The other end of the nasturtium row, with amaranth and pumpkins.

South end of the tomato row, sunflowers, carrots, onions:

The rest of the tomato row:

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Corn patch:

More of the corn patch, with the amaranth and pumpkins:

Squash and beans under the trrellis:

Spaghetti squash mug shot:

Greens patch, about to be tilled under and sown with peas for fall:

North side of the shed, where I want my rabbit shed. I’ve asked my friend Vince to help me build it. I need a shed for my rabbits so I can bring them home…

And now for the tomatoes in containers. They WERE on the west deck, but the plum trees are making a comeback:

NOW they live by the west fence in full sun all day…

Happy story: my roses are making a comeback! I thought they drowned in the clay. But it looks like they may make it…

There’s also one lonely gourd that managed to get a foothold on the west fence:

And here’s the buckwheat bed, which will be another raised bed:

Now for the sunflower and gourds by the coop, which made it hard to watch bock-bock TV. Also, the sunflowers crowd out the gourds…a bit…

But INSIDE the coop, squash and gourd vines are doing great. And the girls don’t eat them!

Speaking of volunteers, I was happy to see these guys and worked around them. It’s free food. And it also relieved my worries about the quality of the compost I was making…

More compost pile volunteers:

The south fence sunflower patch only did so-so. It’s too shady….

But it’s wonderful when they start opening…

Note to self: gourds are delicate and do not thrive in competition…

Out front again, my mint bed is gaining:

Here’s the front walk with the sunflowers:

And now a look toward the fall, with cool weather crops sown indoors to keep them from cooking in the heat or being eaten by pests. Cole crops: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussles sprouts. Also Asian greens, 2 kinds of kale, arugula, 3 kinds of chard, and other winter greens…